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hi. it's me, ben. wondering about this post's title? that would be the international distress symbol, SOS. more on that later, but first, a picture of the boys (me, daddy, and luke)...



and a picture of my brother with a look that describes how our days have been going sometimes!!



actually, that was how our days were going before Beamee arrived!! and that brings us back to SOS. life is fun and exciting with a little brother around, but he tends to be a little high maintenance, particularly in the nighttime hours, and momma was suffering from sleep deprivation and needed some reinforcements!! Beamee to the rescue!! she does have a way with the little ones (and with me too!)...

she was here for one week and really helped out by playing with me and holding luke and just being a warm, smiling face around the house. we miss her already and are so glad she came! we did some shopping together, celebrated cousin Jessica's high school graduation, and just played a lot. we were totally bummed to see her go - see!

but we did also have a surprise visit in there from Grampee too! and that sure was awesome! we weren't expecting him to come this trip because he was busy with work stuff, but he surprised us by showing up on our doorstep for a long weekend visit!! thank you, Grampee!! Luke doesn't look thrilled here, but he was, i promise!

now that our visitors are gone, we're back to usual. i've been spending so much time with daddy since Luke was born, and that is really neat for both of us. we've bonded a lot and just have lots of fun with each other...

oh, please excuse me just a moment, i have to take a call...

yes, okay... yes, very good... sounds great, okay, bye!

okay, sorry, i'm back! i've also been busy playing with trains...

and a few days ago i rearranged my magnet letters to spell my own name! i've been able to spell B-E-N out loud for a while now, but momma helped me spell it in letters by just coaching me a little bit on how to arrange them next to each other like this, but mostly i did it on my own because she was actually at the kitchen sink washing dishes at the time! she was very, very proud of me. since this happened, she's actually been pressuring me to get a job if i think i'm so smart... i'm not so sure about that...

i think i'll just stick to having fun and being a kid...

forgot to mention that when Grampee came, he brought a cool new outfit for me! if you know Grampee, you know that he likes authentic, german adidas soccer clothes. no one is exactly sure why this is or how this came about, but Grampee is cool, the adidas clothes are cool, and so there you go. and now i have some gear too, so i feel cool! check it out!!

i suppose they are a little big, but that's good news for me because then i'll be able to wear them for a long time! do these shorts make me look fat?

we also had fun playing with blocks and just hanging out together...

but ever since Beamee and Grampee have been gone, i've been a little "crooked" (inside joke, if you know me, you know about my "crooked" but if you don't really know me that well, you'll just have to believe me)...

i also forgot to share two last cute pictures of me with Beamee, swinging at Aunt Debbie's house...

and one last picture of Luke, hanging out with friends...

okay, that's all for now. Mimsie and Grandpa are headed over the ocean to Scotland - have a good trip and hopefully we'll see you soon when you get back! otherwise, Aunt Elaina and Aunt Aimee - you're up next! please come visit ASAP. :)